trujo

That's right. This Trujo has a replica 5-string neck made by Marty Lanham. When he
agreed to this challenging task, I thought we were both a little out of step. I have
conversions of many of the banjos on this website, but I have not altered the pots, or
tone chambers, of any of them. My interest in most of these conversions has been to
replicate the appearance and the sound of various pre-war Gibson 5-strings, at the
same time collecting the original 4-string instruments.

The Trujo never existed as a 5-string banjo. Nor did the Bella Voce. The Trujo was
available either as a 19-fret tenor or a 22-fret plectrum. However, by converting the
Trujo, Bella Voce and other 4-strings to 5-strings, I have been able to play these
instruments as well as to look at them. In addition, I have been collecting examples
of the craftsmanship of neck builders such as Frank Neat, Monte Hendricks, Wyatt
Fawley and Marty Lanham.

The name "Trujo" comes from a contraction of the last names of Velma Truett and
Harry George, "Tru" for Truett and "jo" for George. They were a husband and wife
team who owned the Truett-George Studios in San Francisco and Oakland and
started the Trujo Banjo Company. Four Trujo models, styles A, B, C, and the Trujo
Special, and a student model banjo called the Truett were made by Gibson in its
Kalamazoo, Michigan factory from the late 1920's until the mid 1930's, according to
the design and specifications of Velma and Harry.

The most distinctive feature of the Trujo is the hand carved peghead, often
erroneously referred to as a gargoyle. The style A's have a lion's face, with
and without a ring in the nose. The instrument on this website is a style B
plectrum. The peghead has a lion's face, but with a ring in its tongue, which
hangs out and is painted a previously better detectable shade of red.

The neck, rim and resonator are made of maple, and the banjo is
finished in ebony black. The fingerboard of the original tenor neck
is 1/4 inch solid Mozambique ebony. The mother of pearl inlay on
the neck is a standard Gibson hearts-and-flowers design.

The resonator flange is
not a Gibson design and
is screwed to the
resonator. It is perforated
with a unique butterfly
design created specifically
for the Trujo,
presumably plated and
engraved in Kalamazoo.

When the pot is disassembled, it is discovered that the instrument actually has two serial
numbers. 1022 is a 1936 serial number. The second (9065-5), obscured by the tone ring,
is a 1928 serial number. It is likely that the rim was originally intended for a
Gibson-labelled instrument. The Studio King and TB-4 on these pages have the identical
binding on the neck and similar "hearts and flowers" inlays, although the fingerboards
are the more traditional Brazilian rosewood. The rim and neck were probably pulled
from their respective bins for transformation into the Trujo when the unplated resonator
flange and tone ring arrived from California, or wherever Velma and Harry had them
fabricated.

The metal parts are delicately engraved and then gold plated. The gold
plating is of a "Florentine," or dull satin, appearance, with bright shiny
gold inside the engraved designs.

As in the case of the Studio King and Recording King on these
pages, there is no truss rod in the neck. The carved lion peghead
would not easily accommodate a truss rod cover. McHugh's other
invention, the coordinator rod, is incorporated into the design of the
Trujo. As was standard in the Gibson line, there are two lag bolts
extending from the heel through the rim. The top lag bolt is secured
with a fastening nut, and the lower one is attached to the single
coordinator rod.

The Trujo tone ring is made of a large, spun brass,
one-piece assembly that has been referred to as an
upside down church collection plate, or alternatively,
as a turn-of-the-century bar room cuspidor.

According to Russ Presting, "The Trujo banjo has often been
rejected and maligned by the banjo world. Because of its depth,
appearance, skin heads and the manner in how it is set up, the
sound has been referred to as 'tubby' when compared to other
more famous makes. The Trujo was originally designed for
radio broadcasting and phonograph recordings. It gained
instant recognition by the dance banjoists as well as the soloists
to be so mellow and powerful. Being very resonant and having
great carrying qualities, this banjo gives the ensemble new tonal
character. The real banjo tone remains and is refined, equalized
and augmented. It has been declared to be the first banjo
manufactured in which all strings are equally powerful."